"These are all hedonistic, effusively fruity wines with lots of personality and flavor".

2006 3ie Degre (50% Syrah, 40% Mourvedre, 10% Grenache) - "a Cotes du Rhone-like style of Santa Barbara red with a deep ruby color, a sweet nose of black raspberries, cherries, a hint of underbrush, and lots of spice and pepper...full-bodied, silky textured, and delicious for drinking over the next several years." (90 points)

2005 Couchant (100% Cabernet Franc) - "...much beefier, richer and more obviously oaked...it shows more earth, roasted herbs, and black currant fruit with hints of new saddle leather and spice. Medium to full-bodied, a bit bigger than the 3ie Degre..." (89 points)

2006 Grenache - "medium ruby color...and a classic nose of kirsch liqueur, licorice, and spice."

2006 Mourvedre - "...dark ruby color and an earthy nose with hints of porcini mushrooms mixed with blue and red fruits."

2005 3ie Degre - (a blend of 50% Syrah, 25% Grenache and 25% Mourvedre) possesses a dark ruby color as well as an attractive perfume of roasted provencal herbs, and sweet strawberries, cherries and currants. Medium-bodied, soft and silky, this hedonistic red should be enjoyed over the next 3-4 years (90 points)

2004 Couchant - a blend of 85% Cabernet Franc and 15 % Syrah...a deeper ruby/purple hue as well as blackberry, cassis, cedar and spice aromas. Should evolve for 5-7 years.

Thompkins Cellars 2004 Syrah...$38.99. Jeff Dobkin and Julie Thompson-Dobkin make this formidable, micro-production Syrah at an industrial park in Orange County. That may not be the greatest introductory sentence I’ve ever written or the most enticing selling point I’ve ever presented, but it’s the truth, just like the stated 16.5% alcohol level listed on the front label of this behemoth.

Chocolatey, slick and emotionally moving, this Santa Barbara County red is a blend of grapes from Thompson and Vogelzang Vineyards, and it encompasses the palate while scoffing at concepts like “delicacy” or “restraint.”

We first discovered Thompkins Syrah at a massive trade tasting in Pasadena last spring, one that seemed to cover acres of convention floor space, featured hundreds of wineries and which attracted a thousand different wine geeks from throughout Southern California, at least half of whom stepped on my right foot that day. In the jostling and mayhem, I somehow wound up standing in front of Jeff and Julie’s table, and I offered my glass out for a sample. I tasted their terrific Cabernet Franc and Grenache, but really freaked out when I sampled their ’03 Syrah. I was able to order a mere three cases, which didn’t last long (I just can’t keep my yap shut about the really cool wines.) This year, after previewing the ’04, I had the same reaction, and I have a little more available to me so I can actually publicize it.

Only 100 cases were produced. We snagged five of them. This is very fun, intense stuff, but don’t serve it with halibut or hummus: it requires food with an equal level of intensity, like beef ribs or my favorite, duck breast, which seems ideally suited to big reds with a sweeter profile to them.

"Stunning. Seductive. Lush. Silky." The adjective laced reviews have been rolling in since the couple debuted their first commercial wine, a 2001 Cabernet Franc called Couchant.

"It's one of the very, very good Cab Francs I've tasted," says Maureen Collins, owner of Great Legs Wine.

"And when you make a wine that's really good and can be hand sold, you can become an overnight success. That is what is happening here."

Is there a doctor in the house? Doctors Jeff Dobkin and wife Julie Thompson have been bitten by the wine bug. The only cure appears to be the Cabernet Franc of their family wine called “Couchant”. Recently relocated, Thompkin Cellars grapes are grown in Santa Barbara and then processed and aged in their Costa Mesa, CA facility.

Thompkin Cellars grows its grapes in Santa Barbara County and does the crushing and destemming there. "It would be too noisy to do here," explains the woman now known as Julie Thompson-Dobkin (the two were married in 1989). Until the 2003 vintage, the couple made their wine in Santa Barbara. They then decided to start trucking everything down to Costa Mesa, still in the big fermenters ("crushed grapes, juice, stems, bugs and all," she says), and actually make their wine there.

The Thompkin Cellars wine is called "Couchant" -- soleil couchant is French for "setting sun" -- and it's a big, powerful wine that smells of chocolate and blackberries and tastes of cherries, pepper and green olives.

"We have a lot of local folks who decide to start small family wineries and then want us to sell their wine," says Dan Rhodes of Hi- Time Wine Cellars in Costa Mesa, which is just three miles from the Thompkin winery. "But this wine is something special. It's a lot different, quite frankly, from what I thought it would be. I was expecting something very California-ish, an overripe jam ball. But this wine really has a European flair to it. I was amazed by the balance and elegance and structure. It goes really well with food."